"Rural state" legislatures are often part-time, poorly paid, limiting who can serve

I'm on the record for asserting (repeatedly) that there is no such thing as a "rural state," but I decided this Marketplace story was important enough to write about, despite its use of the term.  The headline for the Savannah Maher story is, "In rural states' citizen legislatures, ordinary citizens can't afford to serve," and the states Maher focuses on are New Mexico and Wyoming.  Here's an excerpt mostly about the former:  

In some more rural and less populous states, you’ll find what are known as citizen legislatures that meet for just a few weeks of the year, where lawmaker salaries can fall well below the federal poverty line. Arizona’s state legislators make an annual base salary of around $24,000. In New Hampshire, lawmakers are paid just $100 a year for their service.

Many of those “citizen” lawmakers are putting in 40 hours a week or more regardless of their salaries, according to Josalyn Williams, a policy specialist with the National Conference of State Legislatures.

“All people working in legislatures are citizens of their states, and also all are working at a professional level,” Williams said. Differences in lawmaker pay “reflect the culture, values and needs of the state itself.”

Those differences are often enshrined in state constitutions, Williams said — making them difficult to change.

In New Mexico, some lawmakers have put forward a constitutional amendment that — if approved by the legislature and later by New Mexican voters — would task a citizen’s commission with determining legislator salaries.

Michael Rocca, a professor of political science at the University of New Mexico, co-authored research finding that a base salary, along with longer sessions and paid staff for lawmakers, could increase diversity and productivity in the legislature. But efforts to professionalize the Roundhouse and other citizen legislatures face an uphill battle.

“It has become a framing problem,” Rocca said. “Politicians have not been able to make this case from their own offices because it seems self-serving.”

Trust in government is approaching historic lows, according to the Pew Research Center. Why would we want to provide more resources to politicians we perceive as elitist, out of touch or even corrupt?

But Rocca said that’s a self-fulfilling cycle, as volunteer and low-paid legislatures attract the kind of candidates who can make financial sacrifices.

“What that means is it’s usually a wealthier individual, and it’s typically those who are retired,” Rocca said. “And as you might imagine, that introduces all sorts of biases into the system.” 

This part of the story focuses on a youngish female second-term legislator, Micaela Lara Cardena, from Mesilla, in south central New Mexico, and the latter part focuses on a long-serving male legislator from Cheyenne, Wyoming.   Both legislators are parents to young children, and the story discusses the impact of their public service on their families.